Barbican Weekender

This coming weekend, 1-2 March, sees the return of Barbican Weekender with a packed programme of free activities that explore image and identity through arts and technology. The emphasis is on fun for all the family with music and art, dance and film, even computer coding for beginners. Shown is Danceroom Spectroscopy (2014). CLICK to browse the Barbican's website.

Katy Perry Update

The offensive "Allah" pendant in Katy Perry's Dark Horse video has been digitally removed without harming the video. The Muslim nutter who started a petition for the banning of the video as "blasphemous" is satisfied. In fact he's chuffed. He lives in Bradford, UK. His petition gained over 60,000 signatures. The video has attracted more than 37 million views since it premiered on YouTube on 20 February (CLICK). It's encouraging that religious fruitcakes with magnifying glasses are vastly outnumbered.

Katy's Blasphemy

I don't usually bother with pop music videos, but Katy Perry's YouTube video for her new single Dark Horse has caused a furore amongst religious nutters, with the charge of "blasphemy" being hurled at the singer. I thought we should see what the fuss is about. It's all the fault of the props department. While collecting items for the ancient Egyptian theme of the video, someone found a pendant bearing the word "Allah" in Arabic. This is worn by an actor who gets zapped by Perry. "Blasphemy!" screams some loony and sets up an online petition to have the video banned. I have never understood why believers in a ubiquitous, all-seeing, all-powerful deity feel the need to leap to His defence. Surely He can sort His own problems out. No point in believing in Him if He can't. The video is well directed, produces some striking images and I was surprised to find myself enjoying it, despite the singing. CLICK for The Independent.

The Great War

Tomorrow the National Portrait Gallery in London opens the first of two exhibitions this year to commemorate the outbreak of World War I: The Great War in Portraits. This runs until 15 June, admission free. Shown is artist William Orpen's Self-portrait (1917). Using drawings, paintings, photos and film, the exhibition presents a wide range of images from "the war to end all wars", including a press photo of Gavrilo Princip, the teenager who began it all by assassinating Archduke Ferdinand (CLICK).

Figuring

Tomorrow the Royal British Society of Sculptors opens Figuring, an exhibition of 3 members’ work at the RBS Galleries in Old Brompton Road, London (CLICK). Laurence Edwards FRBS, Brigitte Jurack ARBS and Brian McCann FRBS all assert the continuing vitality of figurative sculpture. Shown is Laurence Edwards' bronze The Settler (2013). The show runs until 9 May.

Adidas Own Goal

Adidas has scored an own goal with its jocular but sexist T-shirts for the Brazil World Cup. On the left is the Brazil Lookin' to Score Tee @ $25 (2014) for men. On the right is the female version I Heart Brazil Tee @ $22 (2014) with a bikini-clad bottom in the heart. They were offered for sale in the USA, but Brazil caught wind of them and wasn't amused, because it's still trying to shake off its reputation as a sex tourism hot spot. Embratur, Brazil's tourism board, threw a wobbler and Adidas - one of the World Cup's main sponsors and its ball provider - has withdrawn the offending T-shirts from sale (CLICK).

Sefton Statue

Today came news that a man accused of the 1982 IRA Hyde Park bombing atrocity will not be prosecuted because he was given an official guarantee he would not face trial (CLICK). Only last year Camilla Le May's life-sized bronze statue of Sefton (2013) was unveiled at the Royal Veterinary College in Hawkshead. Shown is the maquette of her statue. Sefton was severely injured in the bombing. The gelding had 28 pieces of shrapnel removed from his body. His injuries included a partially severed jugular vein and a badly damaged eye. He survived and was fit for duty within three months (CLICK). For Camilla Le May's blog CLICK.

Palace Pollution

Tourists with asthma should avoid the area around Buckingham Palace, which has the worst pollution level in the UK, almost four times the EU legal limit. Despite the palace being surrounded by greenery - St James's Park, Green Park and the palace gardens - the average annual level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in nearby Grosvenor Place, is 152 micrograms per cubic metre of air. I'm surprised Her Majesty hasn't complained. Oxford Street near Marble Arch has the second worst level of NO2. It has had filthy air for as long as I can remember, due to all the buses and taxis churning out noxious diesel fumes. Parts of Regent Street, Piccadilly and Marylebone Road also have more than double the legal levels of NO2 (CLICK).

Wapping Group

Yesterday the Mall Galleries in London opened London and its River, an exhibition by The Wapping Group of Artists. These painters specialize in capturing London and the River Thames in all their moods and variety, from Windsor and Marlow up-river to estuary locations such as Leigh-on-Sea. The group meets every week between April and September to paint en plein air. Over 100 works are for sale at "affordable prices". A fine example of the group's work is Morning Light, St Martins in the Fields by Bert Wright PPRSMA. Jill McManners' solo show Basalt also runs until 1 March. Entry to both shows is free (CLICK).

Turn Me On

If your idea of art is a whirling phallus - here caught in action - then Christie’s Mayfair selling exhibition of over 60 works Turn Me On: European and Latin American Kinetic Art 1948-1979 is the show for you. It opens tomorrow. This whirling thingy is by Günther Uecker, a core member of the Zero Group. The title Turn Me On refers to the electric motors which drive many of these kinetic pieces. You can see them in action at the show in New Bond Street, London, until 7 April (CLICK).

Naiad's Pool

Mentioning naiads in yesterday's post on Kiev reminded me of one of my favourite naiads in Herbert James Draper's Naiad's Pool. The young boy has been caught fishing in the naiad's pool and is being ordered to leave. CLICK to see more of Herbert James Draper's sensuous art.

Bonnie Prince

Those of you suffering from withdrawal symptoms from Fake Or Fortune? might like to know that art historian and sleuth Dr Bendor Grosvenor has tracked down a lost portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie (1745) by Scottish artist Allan Ramsay. The Lost Portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Culture Show Special is on BBC Two tonight at 9pm. CLICK for a video preview. CLICK for BBC News.

Berehynia in Kiev

During the recent murderous kerfuffle over would-be-dictator Viktor Yanukovych's grip on power in Ukraine, I've caught glimpses of this beautiful statue rising above the gun smoke in Kiev and wondered what it is. The short answer is that it's a Monument to Berehynia (2001). It was erected in Independence Square on the site of the former Lenin monument. (Hard cheese, Lenin.) So who is Berehynia? From what I can gather, she's a combination of hearth mother and a Slavic naiad or water nymph. Her role is to protect Kiev. Bit lax over the last few days, Mum. CLICK for BBC News on the tentative peace deal in Kiev.

Lady Mary Found

The Sutcliffe Galleries have announced the rediscovery of this painting by Victorian artist Jerry Barrett: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in Turkey (1858). It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1858, then disappeared into a family's private collection. Twice in the last 22 years a leading London auction house has misattributed this painting to the "circle of Horsley", first in 1990 when the family took it for appraisal and then in 2012 when they put it up for sale. The Sutcliffe Galleries correctly identified it and recognized its importance (CLICK). They will be displaying it on their stand at the BADA Antiques & Fine Art Fair, which takes place in the Duke of York Square in London from 19 - 25 March (CLICK).

Art Rubbish

A cleaner in Italy tidied up Sala Murat's Mediating Landscape exhibition and threw out works made of newspapers, cardboard and cookie pieces scattered across the floor. Believe it or not, this rubbish is supposedly worth £8,200. One look at the photo and you see that the cleaner was absolutely right. So how can a load of old rubbish be worth £8,200? That's the insanity of the contemporary art lark for you. It isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened. In 2001 a cleaner disposed of a Damien Hirst display made of beer bottles, coffee cups and overflowing ashtrays, and in 2004 a cleaner at Tate Britain threw out a bag of paper and cardboard by Gustav Metzger (CLICK).

Pussy Riot Whipped

The Cossacks have entered into the Olympic spirit at Sochi by seeing how hard and fast they can disperse a Pussy Riot peformance. They used horsewhips on the girls to disperse them. Shown is Nadezhda Tolokonnikova being dragged by a Cossack. Below she has been punched to the ground and is surrounded by Cossacks. Was it an Olympic record, lads? Will President Putin give the Cossack team gold medals? Or will you be disqualified for allowing world press to capture your brutal assault, which gave us these enduring images of the Russian Mafia's Winter Olympic Games 2014? CLICK to view the video on BBC News.

Video still of Cossack assault on Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.

Kissing Cops Sold

Here's Banksy's mural Kissing Coppers (2004) on display at Fine Art Auctions Miami, Florida, USA, before going under the hammer to an anonymous buyer for £345,000 ($575,000). It was spray-painted on the side of the Prince Albert pub in Trafalgar Street, Brighton, in 2004. It's another example of a Banksy being cut from a wall to reap a huge profit in the American market (CLICK).

Nude Scanner Ban

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a TV commercial for this smartphone app Nude Scanner 3D after complaints that it had been shown while children were watching and was demeaning to women. Jesta Digital GmbH pulled the advert as soon as it learned of the complaints. The whole idea of this stupid app is to kid your friends you can see through their clothes. Smartphone? Dumbphone. I think you'd need to be below 16 years of age to appreciate the joke. The ASA was not amused (CLICK).

Paolo Veronese

Now for the big one. On 19 March The National Gallery in London opens Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice, the first monographic exhibition (solo show) of Paolo Veronese's influential and beautiful paintings to be held in the UK. This is High Renaissance, very high. Sadly his ceilings and wall frescos can't travel, but his oil paintings can. Shown as an example is his oil painting Persius and Andromeda (c. 1575-80). This exhibition was 5 years in the making, with major loans from European and American museums to form a display of about 50 works (CLICK). The show takes place in the Gallery's Rooms 4-8 and 11-12. Admission is £14 adults, £13 silver surfers. However, on Tuesday afternoons from 2.30 - 6pm silver surfers can gain entrance for only £7.00. View the Gallery's YouTube introduction below.


Go to full screen by clicking the bottom right corner.

Strange Beauty

Today the National Gallery in London opened Strange Beauty: Masters of the German Renaissance in the Sainsbury Wing (CLICK). This exhibition reappraises German Renaissance paintings and shows how their appreciation rose and fell according to fashion. In addition to the Gallery's core collection, which includes Hans Holbein the Younger's magnificent The Ambassadors (1533), more than 30 loans from major UK institutions enhance the theme of reappraisal. The skull to the right of the graphic is my attempt to put the elongated skull in the foreground of The Ambassadors into its realistic perspective when seen from the side of the painting. Try it. Admission to Strange Beauty costs £7. Tickets are timed.

Gurlitt Collection

The lawyers of 81-year-old German recluse Cornelius Gurlitt, who was found to have a hoard of "degenerate" art confiscated by the Nazis, have set up a website as a PR exercise on his behalf. Nice photo of him, taken how many years ago? Is it really him or a model? If you want to read the poorly translated legalese, CLICK. Here's my brief translation into colloquial English. Cornelius is Mr Nice Guy. He never committed any crimes. Neither did his Dad or his Mum. German authorities had no legal right to confiscate his hoard and he wants it back. Even if his Dad did steal any art during the Nazi era, the statute of limitations on any art crime in Germany is 30 years. That's long gone. If his hoard is returned, he will sell paintings back to museums or galleries from which they were confiscated at today's market prices. Millions! He estimates that only 3% of his hoard was taken from Jews. By the kindness of his heart, he will return them to any family that has full documentation to prove ownership. How likely is that?

Art Undressed

Here's the latest in Tate's series of short films Unlock Art. "How to bluff your way in art" would be a better title, but this has already been used. In Unlock Art: A Brief History of Art Undressed (2014) Dawn O'Porter gives us what Tate describes as a "whistle-stop tour" of nudity in art. It begins 25,000 years ago with The Venus of Willendorf and bounces across centuries to culminate in the dire tripe of Francis Bacon. To be rude with a nude or not to be, that is the question. And who writes the rules?

Animated Film

The BAFTA judges didn't have much choice when it came to the animated film award. Of the 3 nominees, Disney's Frozen was undoubtedly the best, but didn't impress me as much as Tangled from the same team. The picture shows Elsa The Snow Queen from Frozen. (CLICK for a trailer.) The other 2 nominees evince boring cornball American humour: Universal Pictures' Despicable Me 2 (CLICK) and Disney/Pixar's Monsters University (CLICK). As for the short animations, forget it. 2013 was a poor year.

Gravity Effects

BBC Breakfast News interviewed Neil Corbould, who led the UK team that devised the BAFTA-winning special effects for Gravity, and showed fascinating examples of how Sandra Bullock was wired up to "float" in zero G. It's well worth viewing (CLICK).

Bullock in Space

Didn't Gravity do well? Six BAFTAs: Outstanding British Film, Best Director, Cinematography, Original Music, Sound and Visual Effects (CLICK).

Little Gems

Yesterday the Mall Galleries in London opened Little Gems, a selling exhibition of postcard-sized landscapes by members of the Federation of British Artists. Shown is Towards the Ferry by Francis Bowyer NEAC. The show runs until 22 February. Admission is free (CLICK).

True Grit

I'm curious to see the Coen brothers remake of True Grit (2010) on BBC Two at 9pm this evening (CLICK). The Henry Hathaway original (1969) starred John Wayne, Kim Darby and Glen Campbell and won Wayne the only Oscar of his career as one-eyed marshal Rooster Cogburn. The remake stars Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld in the John Wayne and Kim Darby roles. Will they come up to scratch?

World Press Awards

US photographer John Stanmeyer is the overall winner of the World Press Photo Awards 2013 with this incredibly atmospheric shot taken for National Geographic magazine. Signal (26/2/13) looks like a still from a science-fiction movie, with brainwashed humans raising lights to worship an alien invader. In fact these are African migrants on the shore of Djibouti city at night, raising their phones to try to capture a cheap signal from neighbouring Somalia. This is their tenuous link to their relatives abroad. CLICK for the World Press website. CLICK for a BBC slide show of winning images in various categories.

London Declaration

At the illegal wildlife trade conference at Lancaster House in London, delegates from 46 different countries and 11 UN organisations have signed The London Declaration to protect wildlife from poachers. The slaughter of elephants and rhinos has soared in recent years. They are under threat of extinction. The price of ivory in China is $7,000 a kilo, which explains why criminal gangs have become involved. These criminals are even prepared to steal from natural history museums! CLICK to view a quick BBC video of the slaughter, with statistics. The London Declaration aims to treat wildlife trade as a serious crime, to adopt a zero tolerance policy to corruption and money laundering related to wildlife crime, to strengthen laws and help law enforcement, to create better cross-agency links, to endorse governments which destroy wildlife products and to renounce governments which use products from species threatened with extinction (CLICK).

IGPOTY Winners

What better way of ignoring our dreadful winter for a while than perusing the winners and finalists of the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition (IGPOTY)? The photos are brilliant. This Golden Leaves caught my eye, photographed by Jasmine Clegg, Age 12, taken in Berlin, Germany, finalist in the Young Garden Photographer of the Year. The exhibition opens at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew tomorrow, if it isn't underwater (CLICK). CLICK for a BBC slide show by Paul Kerley

Hirst's Mickey

I thought you might like to know that Moneybags Hirst's Mickey fetched £902,500 ($1,498,150) at Christie’s London evening auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art yesterday. Moneybags is donating the entire proceeds to the charity Kids Company. The top price of the sale was paid for Francis Bacon’s Portrait of George Dyer Talking, which made a staggering £42,194,500 (CLICK). The only good thing I can say about Bacon’s ghastly tripe is that it helps Britain's export trade. Let the Chinese have it.

Illegal Wildlife Trade

Here's another Kate in the news. Journalist and BBC newscaster Kate Silverton addressed an evening reception for the Illegal Wildlife Trade conference at the Natural History Museum yesterday. To the right, a photo shows poached elephant tusks being crushed. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the illegal animal market is worth £12bn ($19bn) a year. That puts it in fourth place behind drugs, arms and people trafficking. So far the leaders of four African nations have pledged to honour a 10-year moratorium on sales of ivory: Botswana, Gabon, Chad and Tanzania. Today, at Lancaster House, Prince Charles and his sons gave a news conference to highlight their concern. The Illegal Wildlife Trade conference has been organised by the British government, but inspired by Prince Charles, who says, "There is not a moment to lose" (CLICK).

Duchess Kate at NPG

Catherine, HRH Duchess of Cambridge, in her role as Patron of the National Portrait Gallery, attended the Portrait Gala 2014, which raises funds for the Gallery. The great and the good from the worlds of arts, movies and literature flocked to the event to bid for a wide range of goodies on offer. This was Kate's first engagement of the year. She wore a diamond necklace on loan from the Queen, given to Her Majesty by the Nizam of Hyderabad as a wedding present in 1947. CLICK to view more on Kate's blog.

Hamilton Retros

There's a sudden plethora of Richard Hamilton retrospectives in London. Tate Passé is showing Richard Hamilton at the exorbitant price of £13.10 adults and £11.30 silver surfers (CLICK). Forget that. The Institute of Contemporary Arts is showing Richard Hamilton at the ICA with two old installation thingies: Man, Machine and Motion (1955) and an Exhibit (1957) (CLICK). The Alan Cristea Gallery is showing Richard Hamilton: Word and Image, Prints 1963 - 2007, a major survey of Hamilton’s original prints. This one is free (CLICK). Shown is a Photo for the cover of Living Arts Magazine 1963 from the Tate Passé show.

Bond In Motion

On 21 March the London Film Museum in Covent Garden will open Bond In Motion, which it claims is "the largest official collection of original James Bond vehicles" (CLICK). Ah! Vehicles. So that's what the title means. I had a horrible thought ... never mind. Shown is the original James Bond car: the Aston Martin DB5 from 1963. Now for the bad news. Tickets cost £14.50 for adults, £9.50 for silver surfers and £38 for families (2 adults and 2 children). So this is for rich tourists and Bob Crow.

Shirley Temple RIP

Child movie star, politician and diplomat Shirley Temple died yesterday at her home in Woodside, California, at the age of 85. Incredibly she began her film career at the age of three. Her precocious acting, singing and dancing won her a special juvenile Oscar at the age of six, the youngest child ever to receive this award. From 1935 to 1938 she was ranked as Hollywood's biggest draw. She made at least two movies for the great director John Ford: Wee Willie Winkie (1937), her favourite film, and Fort Apache (1948) when she was old enough to play the love interest and shared star billing with John Wayne and Henry Fonda. She retired from the movies in 1950. Of her childhood, she said "I stopped believing in Santa Claus at the age of six when my mother took me to see him in a store and he asked for my autograph". CLICK for the BBC Obituary.

Condo Drawings

Today the Skarstedt Gallery in London opened George Condo: Ink Drawings to coincide with a solo show at the new Simon Lee Gallery. The Skarstedt exhibition features jumbo works on paper by the American, such as his Three Nudes (2013). He's spent the last six months creating this depressing tripe. As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't worth it. If gross is your bag, trot along (CLICK).

Burns' London

Here's another photographic exhibition, this one free: London from the Rooftops 2014. The photos are by Londoner James Burns, who has gained access to many of London's tallest buildings to take outstanding views of the old metropolis. This one is his December Dawn. The show at theprintspace gallery in Shoreditch includes 66 of his photos. According to theprintspace blog, the show ends on 11 February (CLICK). According to BBC London it runs until March (CLICK). Check before you go.

Bailey's Stardust

The National Portrait Gallery in London has opened Bailey's Stardust, a major retrospective of Bailey's photography over half a century featuring more than 250 images personally selected and printed by Bailey (CLICK). The exhibition bears the nowadays obligatory come-on warning about nudity (not a pretty sight). Shown is a female visitor ogling one of Bailey's male nudes (2014). Prices are OTT at £14.50 for adults and £13 for silver surfers. The latter can get an extra £1 off if they visit on Wednesdays.

Florence Cathedral

The February edition of National Geographic has published a fascinating history of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome for the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence Cathedral) by Tom Mueller (CLICK). The article is accompanied by cutaway sections showing how the Cathedral was created. National Geographic's Senior Graphics Editor Fernando Gomez-Baptista and a team of artists spent four months creating these unprecedented graphics to show how the double-shelled dome was made. Brunelleschi - a goldsmith by training - was very secretive about its construction. Mueller doesn't include the apocryphal tale of how Brunelleschi won the competition to build the dome. According to legend, he challenged his competitors to balance an egg on its end. When they had all failed, he picked up the egg and crunched it down to stand on its broken end. If only it had been that simple....

Fake or Fortune 4/4

The next and last of the current series of Fake or Fortune? investigates several lost works by Thomas Gainsborough, one of Britain's most famous artists. Dr Bendor Grosvenor has been trawling the Your Paintings catalogue and he and Philip Mould believe they have identified several paintings by Gainsborough that are attributed to unknown artists. This painting of Joseph Gape, Mayor of St Albans, is one of them. Can the team prove it? Find out on Sunday evening at 6pm on BBC One (CLICK).

NG Buys Yankee

The National Gallery in London has broken two of its rules. 1) It bought its first ever painting by on American artist. It has always limited itself to European art. 2) It bought a work that is post 1900. Usually it leaves post-1900 works to Tate Modern, so they don't compete with each other at auction. Here is the painting that prompted the Gallery to break its rules: Men of the Docks (1912) by George Bellows, leading light of the Ashcan Painters. In 2011 the Gallery put on a small exhibition of the Ashcan Painters (CLICK). In 2013 the Royal Academy of Arts in London exhibited a major retrospective of Bellows' work (CLICK). The National Gallery lashed out £15.6m ($25.5m) for Men of the Docks in a deal with the Randolph College in Virginia (CLICK). The perspective of Bellow's painting of the snowy waterfront in Brooklyn is brilliant, but you can tell his concern is for the freezing dockers. "Will they get work today?"

Heatherwick CBE

By a strange coincidence, British Designer Thomas Heatherwick, who designed the spectacular London 2012 Olympic Cauldron, with flaming copper petals rising to form the cauldron, received his CBE from the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace today.

4th Plinth News

It has been announced that the work to replace Katharina Fritsch's Giant Blue Cock on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square will be Hans Haacke's skeletal Gift Horse with a live ticker tape of the London Stock Exchange on an electric ribbon tied to its leg. Groan! This will be erected in 2015, to be followed in 2016 by David Shrigley's bronze thumbs up sign Really Good, which looks to me like a fist gripping a giant phallus. CLICK to view both models.

Sochi Games

There is absolutely no truth in the dastardly rumour that President Vladimir Putin will appear at the opening ceremony of the 22nd Winter Olympics in Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, wearing a giant condom to promote human rights. At £30bn, the cost of these games is more than the total of all other Olympic Winter Games put together. Vlad needs to keep the Russian Mafia happy. BBC Sport is sending more commentators to these tedious games than Britain has competitors. Auntie is also sending her most famous gay, Clare Balding, as anchor woman, just to get up Vlad's nose. As usual, Muslim nutters have threatened to disrupt the games. The USA is so worried about bombs in toothpaste tubes it has banned them on flights to Russia. You can view the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony on BBC Two at 3.30 pm today (CLICK).

Elephant Triumphs

In January I posted news of Salvador Dalí's Elephant de Triomphe inscribed "4/8" coming up for grabs in Bonhams London auction of Impressionist and Modern Art works on 4 February, estimated at £250,000 to £350,000 (CLICK). It fetched £446,500, setting a new world record price for a Salvador Dalí bronze (CLICK). There are another seven of the 3-metre monsters lurking somewhere.

DevArt

Google has teamed up with the Barbican in London to promote DevArt, Art Made with Code. The video is slick and impressive, but it seems to me that Google is trying to reinvent the wheel. Windows Media Player has been creating complex visuals to music for yonks. My old Atari ST used to do it too, and that's decades ago. I created progressive animations using Degas Elite and fractal generation software. CLICK for the DevArt page. It doesn't do much at present. Maybe if you VIEW SOURCE, it will give you a clue. You'll need a Github account. The Barbican will show Digital Revolution in July (CLICK).

Vandal Jailed

The Fathers4Justice vandal who sprayed "help" in purple paint on Ralph Heimans' The Coronation Theatre, Westminster Abbey: A Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (2012) has been jailed for six months. Tim Haries was sentenced by Judge Alistair McCreath at Southwark Crown Court yesterday for causing criminal damage of more than £5,000 to the painting, worth £160,000 (CLICK).

Lia's Pencil

The wife of a friend's brother, Lia Whiffin, has been doing what used to be called a "correspondence course" in art. Last December she received her Coloured Pencil Certificate with Distinction from the London Art College. I love her still life of Christmas cacti buds, entitled Flight of Fancy, entirely drawn with coloured pencils. CLICK to see more of Lia's excellent coloured pencil art on her SAA page (Society for All Artists). Belated happy birthday, Lia.

Repentista #1

Here's an eye-catching advertisement for Repentista #1, a free group exhibition of contemporary Brazilian art which opens at the Gallery Nosco in Kings Court, London, on 7 February. The photo, I suspect, is a "found image" tarted up by Rodrigo Bueno (CLICK).

Crow's Commuters

Those pesky paparazzi are always lurking where there's sun, sea and surf and rich punters. This one caught Bob Crow, RMT union overlord, sunbathing on Copacabana beach, Brazil, during his recent £10,000 holiday. He earns £145,000 a year and lives in a subsidised council house. While the RMT was demanding Mayor Bouncy Boris meet Bob for talks, Bob was topping up his tan (CLICK). Millions of London commuters are now suffering the travel chaos of the first day of a two-day Underground strike over the closure of redundant ticket offices and the loss of 750 to 950 jobs (CLICK). The closures are a done deal. 400 ticket office clerks have applied for voluntary redundancy packages. Striking members of the RMT and TSSA are losing money. So who benefits? Bob Crow. All the sound and fury from Mr Crow is aimed at convincing his members he's doing a good job for them. How else can he justify that luxury lifestyle to which he's become accustomed?

Sony Photo Awards

BBC News has posted a slide show of photos shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards 2014 (CLICK). The competition received nearly 140,000 entries this year. There are two main categories: Professional and Open. Louise Porter from the USA submitted this photo of Young Men from the Kara Tribe, Omo, Ethiopia in the open People section. The winners of the Open and Youth categories will be announced on 18 March, of the Professionals on 30 April in a gala ceremony in London.